Lois Dodd is a major painter and was an inspiring professor who taught at Brooklyn College from 1971-1992. Her last one-person show in New York City in a non-commercial space was fifteen years ago. This one is long overdue. Dodd formed strong lifelong bonds with many of her students, seeing them and painting together in Maine where she summered. They have come forward en masse to celebrate her achievement. We honor her magnificent art and contribution to our community.

The success of this exhibition was fostered by many individuals. I thank Dodd’s son Eli King for his help in securing the array of wonderful paintings. I am deeply appreciative of Dodd’s gallerist Phil Alexandre for his enthusiastic partnership in this project, and for his hands-on work in realizing our shared vision. I am grateful to the Farnsworth Museum for allowing me to reprint my essay originally published on the occasion of Lois Dodd: 25 Years, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME, May 19 - July 7, 1996. I am indebted to Gerrit Schreurs for making his beautiful documentary on Dodd available to us.

At Brooklyn College I acknowledge our curator Seung Hee Kim, our managing director Malka Simon, and our staff of interns and work-study students for their assistance. I thank as well the college’s production staff for their design expertise, especially Kevin Fagan, Catherine Freeland, and Victor Sanabria. Thanks also to Dodd’s many former students and colleagues who have stepped forward to speak about her influence. I am grateful to the administration for their support of our new gallery: President Michelle Anderson, Provost April Bedford and Dean of Visual Media and Performing Arts, Paula Massood.

Above all, I thank Lois Dodd for her wisdom, generosity, and mentorship of an extended cadre of Brooklyn College students, and for her unstinting support of this exhibition. In her decades of marvelous painting, she is a model of independence, honesty, and strength.

(Text by Mona Hadler, professor of art history, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, Art Department Chair, Brooklyn College)